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No, He’s Not Hitler—Yet. Trumpism is not Fascism—Yet. And while 63 MILLION AMERICANS voted for this guy, that is only 27 Percent of the voting-eligible population. There is plenty of resistance out there to make sure he doesn’t become Hitler and we don’t succumb to neo-fascism. Let’s get to work.

In a live interview with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of British-based company Cambridge Analytica, says the company misused personal Facebook data of some 50 million people to help influence the 2016 presidential election. Wylie says the company met with former Trump campaign manager (and current outside adviser) Corey […]

Marine life is battling an unexpected enemy, lost fishing gear, also known as ghost gear. 705,000 tons of fishing gear are lost in the ocean every year. Mike Neill and his crew are trying to change that.

Do states have a moral right to exclude people from their territory? It might seem obvious that states do have such a right, but Sarah Fine questions this in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. This episode of Philosophy Bites was sponsored by the Examining Ethics podcast from the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University. You can su […]

How do I know I'm not dreaming? This sort of question has puzzled philosophers for thousands of years. Eric Schwitzgebel discusses scepticism and its history with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. This episode of Philosophy Bites was sponsored by the Examining Ethics podcast from the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at D […]

What is a robustly demanding good, and what has that got to do with friendship and love? Find out in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast in which Nigel Warburton interviews Princeton Professor Philip Pettit about this topic.

Philosophers talk about 'knowing how' and 'knowing what'. But what is involved in knowing a person? Katalin Farkas discusses this question with David Edmonds in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. This episode was sponsored by the Examining Ethics podcast from the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University.

Are human beings fundamentally different from the rest of the animal world? Can what we essentially are be captured in a biological or evolutionary description? Roger Scruton discusses the nature of human nature with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

The Hard Problem of consciousness is the difficulty of reconciling experience with materialism. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, in conversation with Nigel Warburton, Anil Seth, a neuroscientist, explains his alternative approach to consciousness,which he labels the 'Real Problem. Anil is a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow.

Why does apparently trivial ritual play such an important part in some ancient Chinese philosophy? Michael Puett, co-author of The Path, explains in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. This episode of Philosophy Bites was sponsored by the Examining Ethics podcast from the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University. You can subscribe to […]

What is Art? That's not an easy question to answer. Some philosophers even think it can't be answered. Aaron Meskin discusses this question on this episode of Aesthetics Bites. Aesthetics Bites is a podcast series of interviews with top thinkers in the philosophy of art. It is a collaboration between the London Aesthetics Forum and Philosophy Bites […]

The process of dying can be horrible for many, but is there anything bad about death itself? The obvious answer is that deprives us of something that we might otherwise have experienced. But that leads to further philosophical issues...Shelly Kagan discusses some of these with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

We certainly disagree about aesthetic judgments in a range of cases. But is anyone right? Is there no disputing about taste? Are all tastes equal? Elisabeth Schellekens Damman discusses disagreement about taste in this episode of Aesthetics Bites. Aesthetics Bites is a podcast series of interviews with top thinkers in the philosophy of art. It is a collabo […]

Cobalt used to be a byproduct of copper mining, used in everyday, boring stuff like tires and magnets. Now it's one of the most important and sought after metals on the periodic table. This has implications for big tech firms like Apple.

White Guilt And The Black Guy In The White’s House

Last night Sean Hannity referred to the IRS mess as the “IRS enemies-list scandal.” The only thing you can say about that particular phrasing is that the man who said it is, well, nuts. He’s nuts with Obama-hate. He and other Republicans will not rest until they turn Barack Obama into a darker version, literally and figuratively, of a White House-fleeing Richard Nixon.

And speaking of nuts and Obama-hate, yesterday Rush Limbaugh, speaking of all the non-scandals going on, said,

The real danger to me, though, is not one or two rogue employees at the IRS or the NSA or the CIA. The real danger is having a rogue administration. And we do, I think. This is the primary challenge that we face.

Yes, that’s nutty. But not as nutty as something else Limbaugh presented to millions of right-wing worshipers:

In his IQ-draining monologue, Limbaugh advanced his long-held and long-articulated theory of how it is that Barack Obama is able to remain relatively popular and get away with all these scandals and governmental malfeasance and socialist destruction:

White guilt. Race…In addition to everything else in the Limbaugh Theorem, the fact that there is so much guilt, white guilt that’s behind the election of Obama, that that same white guilt is simply not gonna show up and hold him responsible. Not you and I. I mean, we voted against Obama, so we don’t have white guilt, but there’s a lot of white voters that voted for Obama simply because of racial reasons, hoping to get rid of racism or wanting people know they weren’t racists or whatever, but it’s all oriented towards how Shelby Steele has described it, and I think brilliantly, white guilt.

…It’s why he’s not going to be held responsible for anything. The whole reason for his existence — and he’s exploiting it, by the way, and knows it — is that enough people in this country feel so guilty over slavery and the civil rights violations that whatever is necessary to assuage that, they will do.

I mentioned to you two weeks ago, maybe longer, that, in my view — and I’d like to be wrong about this — but I can’t foresee any circumstance where the first African-American president be removed from office. Can you tell me who in the Congress is gonna make that move? Give me a member of the House of Representatives that is gonna make that move and then be joined by enough other members to make it a reality? Tell me who’s gonna do it? Nobody’s gonna do it. And why aren’t they gonna do it? If it were ever justified, if it were ever something that were truly constitutionally justified, still not gonna happen because of race.

There you have it. Barack Obama is able to destroy America because there are too many white people out there paralyzed with guilt over how their ancestors treated black folks. If we white folks could only get rid of our white guilt the way Rush Limbaugh has, we would see the world as he sees it.

Enlightening commentary from the most popular pundit in conservative media, a man whom Republicans dare not challenge.

6 Comments

King Beauregard

Personally, I voted for Obama because I’m scared of Michelle Obama. Because there’s nothing more dangerous than a black woman whose man has just been disrespected … and ESPECIALLY if she’s hungry from not having eaten ribs recently.

That reminded me of an old “All in the Family” episode where Archie Bunker was trying to discourage the Jeffersons, African-Americans, from moving into his neighborhood. He said something like, “There ain’t a chicken shack or rib joint in the entire neighborhood.” To which Lionel Jefferson, pretending to confirm Archie Bunkers racism, said,

ansonburlingame

The only time I see what Rush is up to, currently, is reading your blog. I also stopped watching pundits on Fox after they grossly miscalled the election, putting hope in place of good judgment. But so what.

The Obama Presidency is not about his RACE. It is about his ideas, his vision if you will. He looks for things that I reject as being good for all Americans. He slants his policies far too much towards his chosen slices of Americans. You do to but you already know such views, coming from me.

Yes you can accuse SOME in the GOP of doing the same thing. You and yours even tried that approach to Rommey. Must have worked as your side won. But you sure failed to convince me that Rommey was a “bad man” just like Rush and his followers fail to convince me that Obama is a “bad man”, much less a scary negro, which is ridiculous.

By the way, where did the term “scary negro” come from. Is that one of your originals or did it originate somewhere else?

I invented the term “Scary Negro” as shorthand for my description of white angst related to the browning of America, which seems to scare so many white folks who have had their way culturally and who now find it slipping away from them. Pat Buchanan typifies this type of person.

And no the entire Obama presidency isn’t about race, but part of it is for both historical and cultural reasons.

And I profoundly disagree with this statement you made about Obama:

He looks for things that I reject as being good for all Americans.

Huh? What on earth could you possibly mean by “all Americans,” if you think what Obama is trying to do is not good for them? The only possible class of Americans that you could claim that Obama has not been “good” to is that slice of Americans who make a lot of money and who had their taxes increased by about 4 points or so. That’s some sacrifice, Anson. I submit that, despite that modest tax increase, that Obama has still been good to them. Have you seen the stock market lately?

If by your comment you are referencing the health care law, then you have a strange concept of “all Americans,” since the point of the law was to bring health care to Americans who don’t have it now.

I can’t think of anything else you might mean by that comment, but it is one of those generalizations that I bet you can’t defend.